Pumping mechanism



PUMPING MECHANISM Filed July 26, 1939 s Sheets-Sheet 1 w NR Dec. 9, 1941.

J. A. LYNE PUMPING MECHANISM Filed July 26, 1959 u HI llllllllllll ir II I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 9, 1941. J. A. LYNE 2,265,379

PUMPING MECHANISM Filed July 26, 1959 3 Shets-Sheet 3 Patented Dec. 9, 1941 U NFTrE D ZPUIVIBEG MEGHANISM Joe A. .Lyne, "Dallas, Tex, assignor 1- to The iParkersburg- Rig "& Reel Company, Parker'sburg, -W.--Va.-, a: corporation ofWeSt -Virginia Application July 26, 1939,:Serial .No. 286,707 ..In Venezuela July 217,- 1938 7 Claims.

-This invention relates to pumping emecha- -nisms, and moreparticularly to pumpingvmechanisms for oil' wells.

As is .well-known,= it hasibeenetheveommon practice -to operatev the .-pumps :f: 0i1 ".WGIIS Joy connecting the pump rodtonne-i end 'ofp-as walking beam-which. osci11ates-on.-=a; rhorizontal zpivot .axis andis driven through: a: 'pitman :connection. The lower endof: the; pitman is connected to.--.a

crank which is driven from asuitable .-prime.mov- -,er through argear reducingrmecha-nism.

- In some localities bit is -entirely ;'possible 1:2;1'id practicablevto drillvtwo oil' wells in-close;:proximity to'eacho-ther; this being :true; for example,

Where there are .-oil-.bearingsandsz.=at :difierent' pr vided .with..means .12 .foresl ll lt ig.;a.nair

depths. Under such: conditions cnewellisdrilled to .tap the. sandiat one depthrand anotherwwellqis drilled in. close proximity. .to.the first: well: to tap another oil-bearing sand. *In :(the interests .-of

-ofewalkingibcams. l Land. iananeedmmnarallel spaced. relation-Jo. each other; .and..Daced apart a distance corresponding to the distance" between ,the .two wells t0..-be pumped. ..Each. walking.beam

economy it has been; proposed, to: employia single eD Xidedateoneeend.withcahheadi l L1'0recQnprime mover .for ?driving ca: singlecrank shaft-etc operate the 'pumpsof two-wells in=close proximity to eachother; but the;appara.tusheretofore -proposed for this-purpose has been--on1y -1partial1y necting the. wellendnf. thelbeam; to. ambushed rod -15. ..It .will. be obvious .that ;the narticular 'formof. head .or..simi1ar..means 115;..is. of. no.1.imv.nortance ..in..v connection ..with; ;the.;p,resentj,inyensatisfactory in that they: failed .to 1 take:-full.ad-' 131011- vantage of .all ..that -.may? be -gained from the pumping oi two-wells iromasingle prime mover.

--An important objectrofthe present .invention is to provide -a-:nove1 pumping :mechanism .which ..A' .primetmover I I; drivesihe. usuaL-,speed.-.re- .ducing. mechanism J 8 toop tate a conventional .crank shaft. I 9,an,d..in .Lthepreseht instancelthis shaft .isshown. as .being;.-provided ,with .aenair adj acent wells through: the operation "of ansingle crankshaft-driven from, a singlemrime mover.

A further object is-z-to1 provide-:anaapparatus -of. this character which is; particularly suitable y for usev since a ,pltmanfizare of. one-.of .the Wells whiletherother:isshut-down for the purpose ofservicing or for any. other-rem son.

*A further obj ect-is .to provide a dualspumping tating the" operation or the mechanism-by a single prime mover "and minimizing the 'loadsonly,

various parts of theapparatus.

A- furthen'object' is to .pr0vide such amechanism wherein. manufacturing economiesare. effe'cted by permitting'-the.same mechanismto be used for-driving two. walkingbeams, or forjdriv- .50

ances' 22 and 23 respectively. ,Therranksim and 2 l respectively carry .wri t. pins: 24 and" 25 .pivotally. connected joilthe' lower. ends .ci. pitmans 25. .anclifl respectiveln-andlithenppene ds.ofithe to= the.respeotivawalking.beams l3. and I4. vEithen. or bothv of ;the walkinebeamsmw barrovided withauxiliary connterweights asshownjin .dottecl .jlines arid indicated.:b lithe numeral? 30.

mechanism -0perable'from a single crank shaft "Winlbemme 'apparentijhat "whereithe "wens wherein the power. demands on the-'crank' shaft are rendered -as' uniform" as possible; thus f-acili- .are of 'difierentidepths so. as to. render jvdifferent countenwei hting .ide'sir'able, 1,;the inference may e. mad i pf by..ichaneing; 'the. countemfei'ght f'ju on one .cf the .-wa1kine1 beams or 'the co nterweighte22 on-.its actuating ,crank or byadjustment. .of'. both :the' beam .and. crank. Wei hts. j; It also will become apparentythat while the, cranks 20 andZl have. been shown 'degrees apart; this .is' .the arrangement" for, ideal conditions but ithe invention is not'limited" to such specific.arrangementiior a reason which willbe referredto below.

;In. some installations. peak loads on a' wen 9perating mechanism will not. occur '"when "tthe 5 3 crank .is on vertical; center, andif'fthisjis-true 0f either or both of the wells operated by the walking beams l3 and I4, the counterweights 22 and 23 should not be arranged exactly 90 degrees apart. However, in many installations the peak loads will occur near enough to vertical centers for the counterweights 22 and 23 to be arranged as shown. Under such conditions, the cranks may be keyed as at 3| to the crank shaft and the cranks clamped in position by the usual clamping bolts 32.

For installations in which it is desired to compensate for the occurrence of peak loads away from vertical centers, the construction shown in Figure 3 may be employed. In such construction the crank 33 and the crank shaft l9 may have suitable splined connection as at 34 to permit the crank to be clamped in" any suitable ployed. Generally speaking, it may be said that the cranks are arranged 90 degrees out of phase and any variation in such arrangement is for the purpose of compensating for load conditions in. individual installations and not with the idea of employing one pumping unit for counterbal-- ancing the other. a

In this connection it is pointed out that attempts have been made to follow what would be natural engineering practice in an installation of this character, namely, the balancing of the 1 load of one well against the load of the other.

angular position with respect to the crank shaft.

In the form of the invention shown in Figures 1 and 2 the walking beams have been shown side by side, which is the preferred arrangement where two wells have been drilled in close proximity to each other. For example, in certain wells now in use, the pairs of wells are drilled approximately '70 inches on centers, and the structureshown in Figures land 2 is particularlyadapted'for use with wells of this charac- "ter. In other installations in which the wells are a greater distance apart, the installation in'Figure 4 may be employed. In the modified form, of the installation all of the parts may correspond to the parts'described in connection with the form of the invention shown in Figure 1 except for the headache posts and the arrangement of the walking beams, and the parts in Figure 4 which correspond to those in Figures 1 and 2 have been indicated by the same reference .nu-

merals.

Referring'to Figure 4 it will be noted that two longitudinally spaced Samson posts 35 and 36 are employed and walking beams 31 and 38 arepivotallysupported by the respective Samsonposts. It'will be noted that the Samson posts. are spaced a suitable distance from each other to support the walking beams in parallel planes but in ,opposed relation, the pitmans 26 and 21 being connected to the adjacent ends of 'the walking beams. The outer ends of the walkin beams are provided with heads 39 and 40 for connecting the walkingv beams to the polished rods 4| and 42 of the respective wells.

The operation'of the apparatus is as follows:

Referring to Figure 1 it will be noted that the rotation of the crank shaft 59 by the prime mover and its associated gear reducer unit rotates the cranks and 2| to oscillate the walking cordance with the particular well bein pumped.

Where peak loads do not occur exactly at vertical centers but occur relatively close to such points, the 90 degree arrangement of the cranks may be effectively employed. Under other conditions, the cranks. maybe set at more or less than 90 degrees out of phase,.in which case the crank adjusting feature shown in Figure 3 may be em- While such an installation would effect economies in the way of pumping two wells from a single crank shaft, the results fall far short of what may be actually accomplished in an installation of this character and what is accomplished with the present apparatus. Where two wells have their pumping units arranged to counterbalance each other, two heavy peak loads occur in the operation of the apparatus and these peak loads are approximately 180 'degreesapart, which is also true in the case of a single pumping unit pumping from a single well. Thus the counterbalancing of one pumping unit by theotherfollows conventional practice in this respect. While in this arrangement one well approximately balances the other and reduces the amount of counterbalancing the 'counterbalancing effect is not as good as, and the torque loads on the crank shaft during the 'peak well loads are greater than, if each well were being pumpedby an individual and properly balanced unit.

In this connection it will be noted that on the lifting stroke of the well rods the load imposed on the pumping unit will be the weight of the rods plus the weight of the fluid column times the acceleration factor. On the down stroke of the well rods, the load imposed on the pumping unit will be the weight of the rods minus acceleration. With a single well, these loads may be counterbalanced by using an amount of 001111- terbalance equal to the average of the two loads. As a typical example, it will be assumed that the load imposed on the lip-stroke ofthe well rods is 15,000 lbs. and theload 'on the down stroke is 3,000 lbs. A proper counterbalance under this condition would be the average of these two loads (or the total of the two loads divided by 2) or 15,000 plus 3,000 divided by 2, or 9,000 lbs, which would give two net peak loads each of 6,000 lbs. imposed on the pumping unit approximately 180 degrees apart.

With two pumping units driven from a single crank shaft and arranged to counterbalance each other, the net peak loads will be the difference between the peak and minimum loads of the two wells which in this example would be 15,000 lbs. minus 3,000 lbs.=12,000 lbs. for each net peak load. In such case the net loads imposed on the speed reducer and prime mover would .be two 12,000lb. loads approximately 180 -degrees apart. Therefore the speed reducer necessarily would have to be of twice the peak capacity in this case over thatrequired for pumping one well in the conventional manner. Also, with an apparatus of this type, the load differential will remain, even though counterbalancing is added, as it isimpossible to reduce these net loads by means of such counterbalancing.

In the present case, two pumping units are driven from the single crank shaft with the cranks set degrees apart and preferably with the well loads counterbalanced in the same manner as they would be for separate wells with condegrees apart. peak capacity of the speed reducercwou-ldberequired for pumping: both wells over that. re-

:ventional -pumping units. iAccordingly 1: ithere --.would be four peak loads of G,000:-lbs. eachand such peak loads would occur approximatelyew Therefore, no increase a in :.the

quired for one well. Thus thepresentzapparatus is highly advantageousover an apparatuswherein one pumping unitiscounterbalancediby the other. The latter. arrangement is 'also 'disadvantageous: for the :reason; that both-of1 a .pair of wells are not always simultaneouslypumped and a mechanism of the character referred :to does not permit the pumping of one.w-e11-while the other is shut down,

-A- second I distinct advantage of the apparatus lies in the fact that the two pumping units, while driven from a-oommonpowen source, are operative wholly independently of each other, the two units being independently counterbalanced in accordance with their particular'needs. In this connection, -it-is pointed out that the-present apparatus is usually employed with two-wellsof different depths, drilled into different oil-bearing sands, and accordingly it usually is impossible for one pumping unit to effectively counterbalance the other in accordance with the method which has been previously referred to. The present apparatus permits far more effective counterbalancing by providing oounterbalancing in accordance with the particular requirements of each well. Moreover, each pumping unit being independent of the other so far as oounterbalancing is concerned, it will be obvious that either well may be shut down for servicing or any other reason, in which case the remaining well will be pumped by its pumping unit, which will pump in accordance with conventional practice. There fore, the apparatus involves two very distinct advantages over the practice of oounterbalancing one well against the other.

The apparatus also has an additional advantage in that it effects manufacturing economies aside from the fact that it permits two wells to be pumped from a single crank shaft and power source. It will be apparent that the two cranks l9 and 2! may be set in phase, in which case the apparatus readily lends itself to the driving of a single walking beam through dual pitman connections, which is conventional practice at this time. Therefore, manufacturing economies are effected by permitting the manufacture of a single apparatus which is capable of use for driving a single walking beam through dual pitman connections, or for simultaneously and efficiently driving two walking beams which are connected to pump oil from different wells.

The form of the apparatus shown in Figure 4 functions in the same manner as the apparatus shown in Figures 1 and 2 and need not be referred to in detail. In each case the walking beams are driven from the same crank shaft through similar cranks which are similarly counterweighted, and peak loads are spaced 90 degrees apart with either form of apparatus, thus rendering the power demands more uniform throughout each rotation of the crank shaft.

Generally speaking, therefore, the present apparatus is made up of a pair of individual pumping units driven from a single crank shaft and individually counterbalanced to render the pumping units independent of each other. More specifically the apparatus comprises two pumping units driven from a common source and individually counterbalanced with the two pumping units. arranged approximately t degrees-out of phase to render as uniform as possible' the power -demands-.on the crank shaft. 1111 171115 connection,. .'attentionl is: invited to the fact that rthe :most: advantageous results may a=be obtained in individual. cases by arranging the pumping: units outof m-phase .more, or less than 90*. degrees. Ac- .cordin'gly, wherewreference is made in the ap- ,pendedclaimsto the. arrangement approximate- -ly .SOLdegreesout. of 1 phase it :is understood that vthis expression means substantially greater -than (lsdegrees or substantially less than degrees.

While -counterbalancing- I has been refer red.-to herein and shown -inithe' drawings as being of the counterweight type, it i will be perfectly-obvious that any type ofcounte'rbalancing maybeen:- ployed such as beam .or crank counterweightsas shown-,or pneumaticghydraulic or acombin'a'tion of pneumatic and hydraulic oounterbalancing.

It -is to 'be- I understood that theforms a or the inventionherewith shown and-described are-toabe taken as preferredexamples of the-sam'e-rand that various changes in' the shapes; size-and arrangement of parts may be resorted towithout departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A pumping apparatus comprising a crank shaft, a pair of cranks carried by said shaft and arranged approximately 90 out of phase with each other whereby the peak torque loads on the crank shaft, applied through said cranks, occur 90 out of phase with each other, a pair of pumpoperating units connected to be driven by the respective cranks, and a pair of oounterbalancing means effective for separately oounterbalancing said units.

2. A pumping apparatus comprising a horizontal crank shaft having a crank at each end thereof, and a pair of pump-operating units connected to be operated by the respective cranks, each unit comprising a pump-operating walking beam mounted to oscillate on a horizontal axis, said cranks being arranged approximately 90 out of phase with each other whereby the peak torque loads on the crank shaft, applied through said cranks, occur 90 out of phase with each other, and oounterbalancing means effective for oounterbalancing the respective pump-operating units.

3. A pumping apparatus comprising a horizontal crank shaft, and a pair of pump-operating units comprising cranks at opposite ends of said crank shaft, walking beams mounted to oscillate about horizontal axes and connected to be operated by the respective cranks, and counterweight means effective for separately oounterbalancing said units, said cranks being arranged approximately 90 out of phase with each other whereby the peak torque loads on the crank shaft, applied through said cranks, occur 90 out of phase with each other.

4. A pumping apparatus comprising a horizontal crank shaft, a crank connected to each end of said crank shaft, and a pair of pump-operating units comprising a pair of parallel walking beams mounted side by side and supported for oscillating movement about a substantially common horizontal axis, one end of each walking beam being connected to one of said cranks, and counterweight means effective for separately counterbalancing said units, said cranks being approximately 90 out of phase with each other whereby the peak torque loads on the crank shaft, applied through said cranks, occur 90 out of phaselwith each other.

5. A pumping apparatus comprising a horizontal crank shaft, a crank connected to each end of said crank shaft, and a pair of pump-operating units comprising a pair of parallel walking beams mounted side by side and supported for oscillating movement about a substantially common horizontal axis, one end of each walking beam being connected to one of said cranks,.said cranks being approximately 90 out of phase with each other whereby the peak torque loads on the crank shaft, applied through said cranks, occur 90 out of phase with each other, and counterweight means carried by each of said cranks.

6. A pumping apparatus comp-rising a horizontal crank shaft having a crank at each end thereof, and a pair of pump-operating units comprising a pair of walking beams mounted to oscillate in parallel vertical planes and projecting in opposite directions away from each other, means for supporting each walking beam for oscillating movement on a horizontal axis intermediate its ends, means connecting the adjacent ends of said walking beams for operation by the respective 'cranks, said cranks being arranged approximately 90 out of phase with each other whereby the peak torque loads on the crank shaft, applied through said cranks, occur 90 out of phase with each other, and counterweight means efiective for separately counterbalancing said units.

7. A pumping apparatus comprising a horizontal crank shaft having a crank at each end thereof, and a pair of pump-operating unit comprising a pair of Walking beams mounted to oscillate in parallel vertical planes and projecting in opposite directions away from each other, means for supporting each walking beam for oscillating movement on a horizontal axis intermediate its ends, means connecting the adjacent ends of said walking beams for operation by the respective cranks, and counterweight means carried by each crank, said cranks being arranged approximately 90 out of phase with each other whereby the peak torque loads on the crank shaft, applied through said cranks, occur 90 out of phase with each other.

JOE A. LYNE. 

